I watched a lot of Summer Olympics, including the closing ceremony. That closing ceremony was pretty much the last bit of television I watched via my Rogers digital receiver until the baseball playoffs started on Friday. Both the Olympics and MLB playoffs looked fantastic in HD on my LG television, though.
Reading the above, you're likely thinking I don't watch much television. In actuality, I do enjoy a number of television series, and many movies, I just don't watch them on conventional television. I play them on my laptop and use an HDMI cable to see it on my LG TV. Rogers doesn't get involved.
Each month, Rogers gets approximately $100 from me. I absolutely hate spending this $100, but I haven't figured out a way around it without sacrificing live sports. About 18 months ago, I got an amplifier for receiving digital OTA signals, and tried living without paying Rogers a dime for cable. I got a few stations, in HD no less, but then the NHL playoffs started and I wanted to watch. I couldn't pull in the stations OTA, nor could I find decent, clear streams on the web, so I bought the smallest package that would get me CBC, Rogers Sportsnet and TSN / TSN 2 in HD. That's how I got to $100 a month.
There's always something coming up around the corner that stops me from cancelling the service altogether. The NHL Playoffs, the Euro Cup, the Olympics, MLB playoffs, and soon NBA and WJHC. So long as I want to sit in my living room and watch these sporting events live in HD, I'll have to pay the piper. And that doesn't seem fair to me.
Since I'm only watching one of five stations to get my live sports fix, why can't I buy these HD stations a'la carte? I figure I pretty much live on CBC, TSN and Sportsnet. $100 / month sounds crazy for a handful of stations.
Help me stop getting screwed by Rogers. Other than going to a bar to watch live sports, do I have any other option? I've looked at Bell, I've tried OTA with an antenna, and finding streams over the Internet didn't cut the mustard.
What's a sports fan to do?
